Indonesia

Executions start again after a four-year stop. Two Nigerians put to death for drug smuggling

Indonesia executes 2 Nigerian drug smugglers to mark UN anti-drug day by executing two Nigerians convicted of smuggling illegal drugs, officials said Friday.
Samuel Okoye, 37, and Hansen Nwaolisa, 40, were arrested at Jakarta's international airport in 2001, each carrying more than 6.5 pounds (three kilograms) of heroin. They had been held at a high-security prison on Nusakambangan island since their conviction.
«We have carried out the sentence, according to the court's decision,» said local prosecutor Muhamad Yamin.
The executions by firing squad took place overnight, marking the international anti-drugs day on Thursday, Indonesia's anti-narcotics agency said.
Drug traffickers are routinely sentenced to death in Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim and socially conservative nation of 235 million people, and foreigners have not been exempt. Another 60 convicts are on death row after being convicted of drug-related crimes, said National Police Chief Gen. Sutanto.

Reuters

Two Nigerians executed in Indonesia for drugs

CILACAP, Indonesia, June 27 - Two Nigerians convicted of drug smuggling have been executed by firing squad in Indonesia, officials said on Friday.
Samuel Iwachekawu Okoye and Hansen Anthony Nwaoysa were executed before midnight on Thursday on Nusakambangan prison island, which is off the coast of central Java.Nigeria's government, which asked Indonesia last month for a stay of execution, expressed its regret over the deaths.
"This was despite the passionate plea for a stay of execution and commutation of their death sentences," Nigeria's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.Indonesia has defended the death penalty as a necessary deterrent in a country with a growing drugs problem. The last foreigners to be executed for drugs offences were two Thai nationals in October 2004.
Three Australians convicted of drug trafficking are also on death row in Indonesia until their appeal process is exhausted.
They were among nine Australians arrested in the resort island of Bali in 2005 with 8.2 kg (18 lb) of heroin.
Indonesian prosecutors have said they are also preparing the executions of three Bali bombers for their role in deadly attacks in 2002 that killed 202 people.
Dicky Atotoy, head of the Central Java mobile brigade police, said the two Nigerians had been tied to two wooden poles with their heads covered, and shot by two teams of police snipers.
"The doctor declared the two convicts dead at 00:00 following the firing squads' duty to execute them," Atotoy said.
It is not clear where the two men will be buried. A Reuters witness said that no coffins had been taken off the island of Nusakambangan after the executions.